He Hates Birthdays
by Bullet in the Feels
Summary: January 28th, the day Nico had been dreading since he understood what that day meant. His birthday, now if only Will knew that. Nico only wants to be alone, like always, but this time, it's different. Will searches for help to get Nico out of his newest slump. What will he do when he discovers he didn't know something as fundamental as a birthday?


**A/N: After seeing [again] how well the other parts of this series did, I decided that I could do this one. I understand this is kinda early, but I finished it and couldn't wait any longer to post. Meant for JANUARY 28TH. Enjoy, and thanks for reading!**

Nico di Angelo didn't like birthdays. He would be the first to admit that the American way of gorging not only the person who's birthday it is, but also a ream of other people, was repulsive. However, this birthday was going to be unlike any other he had in the past because this year, he had a boyfriend to spend it with. That didn't change the fact that he hated birthdays, but at least this year was going to be a little more bearable than others.

The day didn't start off too good for the son of Hades when his earlier-than-him riser of a boyfriend pounded on his door to let him inside the freaking cabin before the Furies got him. The sun wasn't even starting to rise yet, but apparently for Will, this was the perfect time to visit his boyfriend who could barely stand to see himself in the mirror in the morning, let alone other human beings. So perhaps having a boyfriend on his birthday wasn't as cracked up as Nico thought to be.

"Rise and shine~" Will exclaimed in a singsong voice, opening the one window he could get to across the room from Nico's preferred bed.

Nico merely groaned, throwing his feather pillow over his head to block out not just the newfound light, but also the sound of Will's voice.

"C'mon, please?"

"I don't want..." Nico mumbled, not finishing his sentence.

"Nico, I can't read your mind."

Nico's response was to just curl up into the fetal position, keeping the pillow on his head to mute any sounds and light that would otherwise disrupt his need to sleep in; his desire to sleep in on his birthday. Of all things he wanted to be dealing with right now, his overbearing boyfriend was not one of them. Of course, overbearing was the only word Nico used to describe Will when he really wasn't in the mood for him.

Over the year the two had been dating, Will had not only learned on how to pick up on this even less social behavior in Nico, but also how to handle him when he slips into one of these slumps. The only problem Will faced with this was how Nico would react. If Nico responded badly, Will knew the only thing he could do was leave the other alone, even though that's the last thing he wanted to do.

Will slowly walked towards Nico's bed, gently sitting down where he knew Nico's legs weren't. He leaned over the prone body half buried - half tangled in the blankets - starting by wrapping his skilled fingers around Nico's bony shoulder. To his relief, Nico didn't flinch or try to push him away.

"Nico, what's wrong?" Will asked, rubbing his thumb up and down in an attempt to keep Nico somewhat calm.

Nico mumbled something that sounded more like grumbled noises instead of words.

"Nico, please speak up. I can't help if I don't know what's wrong."

Nico answered in a similar way to Will's ears, though he did pick up on a little something that made Will change the way he phrased his last sentence. "In English please, Nico."

"I just want to be left alone today," Nico repeated. Was it really so much to ask to be alone? Was it really an issue to want to be alone on his birthday?

"You always want to be left alone. Well, today, I'm going to be left alone with you." This wasn't the first time Will had tried to do something like this to get Nico to let him stay, and given that it always worked in the past, Will saw no reason why it wouldn't work now. But it didn't this time.

"No, Will," Nico replied, rolling onto his side to look Will in the eye, "completely alone today."

Will's smile dropped dramatically.

"I just can't deal with anyone today," Nico weakly explained.

"But even when you couldn't deal with people, you always enjoyed my company. Why not today?"

"Will, plea-"

"Are spirits bothering you again? Is that it?"

"No, Will-"

"Did Percy do something to you? I swear to the gods if he did," Will left the threat hanging.

"It's not Percy. Just dro-"

"Then what is it? What's so horrible that you can't tell me?" Will demanded.

"Just drop it!" Nico shouted, the shadows wrapping around him protectively. Nico knew Will was only trying to help him, but he couldn't take the constant pestering, and he lashed out. "Just... Leave," Nico choked out, turning around to hide new forming tears in his eyes from Will.

"Fine," Will relented too quietly for Nico's liking. "Have fun then. Alone." Despite what Will was trying to do, Nico didn't change his mind, and soon enough, Will was once again outside, facing the sun that had risen higher, making Will wonder how long he and Nico were really fighting for. Given how long Nico took to answer some of those questions, Will wouldn't doubt at least an hour had passed.

However, instead of feeling sorry for himself with what just happened between him and Nico, Will decided he would get to the bottom of the boy's piss poor mood. His first stop? The person who knew Nico best: Jason Grace.

* * *

It wasn't unusual to see Jason hanging out at the beach with Annabeth, Percy, and Piper, so that was the first place Will looked. Lo and behold, there Jason was, getting tackled by Percy while Annabeth rolled their eyes at the boys, smirking nonetheless, and Piper suffering from a giggle fit.

Before Will could even open his mouth to call out to Jason to talk to him, Annabeth spotted him, waving him over. Will wasn't about to disobey Annabeth of all people in camp, so he quickly made his way to where she and Piper were reclining on the sand.

"Where's Nico?" Annabeth started the conversation by asking. The two boys fighting still hadn't noticed Will join the girls.

"Holing himself in his cabin again."

"And you didn't stay this time? Do you have stuff to do around camp?" Piper chimed in.

Will shook his head. "He wouldn't let me stay. I didn't want to make him anymore upset than he already was, so I let him be. I have no idea what happened though to make him so... Upset? I was hoping I could get some answers from Jason."

Annabeth nodded, thinking over what Will had just said. "You're sure you didn't do anything, right?"

"Positive... Well, nothing that would make him _this_ upset with me at least"

Annabeth's hand went to her chin as she thought. "Hey, Perce?"

The reaction was immediate. Percy was at Annabeth's feet like a puppy at the sound of his name, Jason following closely behind.

"What's up?" Percy asked, doing his best to only focus on his girlfriend instead of the newcomer.

"Have you talked to Nico recently?"

"Of course not. He's always hiding from everyone, and even if I find out where he is, Will's always there."  
"Plus," Jason butt in, "he won't come out anytime soon."  
"And we certainly aren't going to find him today."

"Why's that?" Will asked, knowing he was getting somewhere now.

"Because today's his birthday," Jason answered. "If he wants to be alone, we'll respect that for just one day."

Will's face blanched. Today was Nico's birthday, and he didn't even know it. Was this was Nico was so mad at him? Because he never bothered to learn in the year they had been dating? How could he not know something as fundamental as a birthday?!

"You okay there, Will?" Annabeth inquired, standing now. The other three were also staring at Will, concern coating their features.

"Fine," Will managed to answer. "I just... Didn't know," he informed her.

"What are you going to do now that you _do_ know?" Piper questioned, also standing.

"I'll... Think of something, I'm sure," Will replied with a determined nod. "I'll see you guys later!" he called back as he ran to the Apollo cabin.

* * *

Kayla walked into the Apollo cabin, fear swirling in her when she saw Will laying face down on the floor.

"Will!" she gasped, rushing to his side to find out what was wrong with him. "Are you okay?" she asked, not even knowing if he could hear her.

Relief flooded Kayla's body when Will groaned. Not dead. He sat up slowly, rubbing his puffy red eyes. Concern flashed right back into Kayla, wondering what had her brother so upset.

"Will, what's wrong?" she asked, helping him to a bed to sit down on.

"Today's Nico's birthday," Will started off by saying. Kayla could feel where this conversation was heading. "I didn't know it until after we had a fight. Jason and Percy said that I should just let him have his alone time today since I never let him be alone any other day..."

"But no one should be alone on their birthday," Kayla finished for Will, who nodded in agreement.

"Have you gotten him a gift or anything?"

"Oh, gee, I don't know. Maybe in the past hour I spent in here trying to figure out what to do for him, I magically discovered something perfect in my pocket."

"Okay, first off, drop the sarcasm. I won't help you if you're going to be snarky with me."

"Sorry, Kay... I just don't know what to do."

"Well, maybe if you didn't hole yourself up in here like your boyfriend does with his cabin, you would find something to get him," Kayla suggested.

Will knew she was right. This wasn't the way he should be treating this, but he just felt so bad that he didn't even know today was Nico's birthday. It was that fact that brought to Will's mind that he didn't even know how old his boyfriend actually was. He heard about what happened to the boy, he knew that this wasn't his time period, and heck, Nico even told him his actual age! But he still didn't know!

An idea popped into Will's head. He needed to find Leo before he could forget.

"Will, where are you going?" Kayla demanded, chasing her brother out of their cabin, towards a certain bunker.

"There's only one person who would have what I need to save my relationship yet," Will said, not really answering Kayla's question. "And that person, is Leo Valdez."

* * *

Bunker 9 was not made for inexperienced people to be roaming around. Will didn't know if that's how it came, or if that's how Leo changed it, but from the moment he stepped inside, to the moment he found Leo, Will was kept on his toes from stray machines that weren't quite turned off to fragile parts that Leo would definitely mind getting broken.

"Leo?" Will called out, tripping over something, falling through a closed door. Will was therefore saved the trouble of having to search for Leo being as he stumbled right into Leo's office.

Will looked up in time to see the point of a screwdriver in his face.

"Gods Will, do _not_ sneak up on me while I'm working. I could have stabbed your eye out with a Flathead!"

"Sorry, Leo. I tripped over something, and well, I ended up here. But I was looking for you anyway. I need something that only you would have."

"You mean besides my mechanical genius?" Leo asked with a quirked eyebrow.

"Yes. I know that you have a certain collection in here that you would rather keep hidden from Piper."

Leo's smirk fell. "Who told you?" he demanded. "And why do you care?"

"I found out from some other camper. Anyway, I need to borrow it. All of it."

"Wha? Will have you lost a screw or something? I'm not about to let you take my collection just to have it ruined by one of your siblings, or stolen by Piper!"

"I'm not taking it to my cabin."

"Then who...?" Before Will could respond, Leo answered his own question. "Nico."

"Yeah, Nico," Will confirmed.

"You're taking it to him, then back to me?"

"That's the plan."

Leo glared at Will for a moment before he finally relented. "They better come back in proper condition," Leo threatened.

"They will," Will promised. He left with a heavy box, making his way back to the Hades' cabin.

* * *

Will knocked on the door, completely ready to just open the door anyway should Nico not even bother to register that he was there. Surprisingly enough, the door swung open, revealing a heavily disheveled Nico.

"You look great," Will commented, stepping past Nico who didn't protest.

"What do you want, Will?"

Will could feel himself relaxing. Nico was still calling him by his first name which meant he wasn't too horribly mad at him.

"I just want to spend time with you." He held up the box for good measure.

"I told you I wanted to be alone. Just for today." Will could tell Nico was just about ready to flee. The begging tone of the younger's voice gave it away.

"No one should be alone on their birthday."

"Even if that's all they want?"

"Especially if that's all they want," Will retorted.

Nico sighed, jumping back onto his bed. "What's in the box then? I assume that's why you came back."

"Yeah!" Will said, shoving the box onto the bed next to Nico. "So, Leo is really big into these characters called superheroes. And I thought today would be the perfect day to introduce you to these comic books."

Nico knew what superheroes were. He knew that Leo was a closet nerd. However, Nico wasn't about to ruin the very excited voice Will was using when talking to him.

"I think you'll like this one in particular." Will held up a thin book. Nico's eyes ran over the words _Captain America_ on the cover.

"Have you ever read it?" Nico asked.

"Well... No, but I've heard they're great."

"You best be off then. I've got my work cut out for me," Nico informed Will, looking at the box full of the comic books.

"You're going to read them by yourself?" Will asked incredulously.

"Yes. Believe it or not, I am capable of reading things that are in English."

"But-"

"I suppose if we just put in one of these movies, that would be fine too..." Nico glanced over at Will whose kicked puppy expression quickly shifted to a smile full of glee.

"Movie time!" Will shouted, grabbing _Captain America: The First Avenger_ from Nico's bony fingers. "I see you cleaned up since the last time we had a movie night."

"Shut up. It's not like the stuff was in my way, and it's not like we don't watch movies ever together," Nico defended.

* * *

"Hey look, it's you," Will said barely six minutes into the movie, pointing at the frail-looking Steve Rogers in the alley fight.

"Who's that?"

"That's Steve Rogers. Captain America."

"That doesn't look like the guy on the cover."

"Just watch. It gets better, I promise."

"Is this really what it was like in America during World War II?"

"Nico, shut up. Your country was on the losing side."

Nico answered to that in Italian. Will assumed Nico was insulting him somehow.

"Wow, flying cars," Nico carried on not four minutes later. "Obviously something that didn't happen being we've only got planes which they had in that time."

"Shut up and watch the movie." Will found it funny how Nico had been the one telling him not to talk during movies, and now he was having to tell Nico to be quiet.

It didn't seem like it was all that long before the movie was over. This had been the first movie that the two watched together that neither of them had seen prior to their movie date.

"It must've been hard to wake up in the future," Will commented as the credits rolled. "I mean he was smart and had already suspected something, but still."

"Yeah," Nico agreed, bitterness hanging on his words, "how awful it must've been to wake up and suddenly be in a time you don't recognize, don't fit in. You're clothes are long out of style, your words and common phrases are unknown and might land you in the Room."

Will winced. He hadn't been thinking when he made that comment. "Nico, I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking."

"No. You weren't." After a moment's pause, he continued. "But I can't blame you either for forgetting."

"Nico, you are the only person I truly care about so deeply. I shouldn't forget something like that; it's too important. I swear I won't forget anymore. I won't forget about that story you told me about Warner. The boy who was gassed because he kissed you."

"He wasn't killed because he kissed me, Will," Nico replied immediately. "He was a Jew, and the Nazis took and killed Jews. That kiss wasn't because we liked each other so much - we were like six! It was just something that kids do. Or have you not seen children interact lately. It's common for them to kiss each other because they're told that's what people do with people they like. Being friends means they like each other, ergo, Warner's kiss meant absolutely nothing. Just because I enjoyed being kissed by him, doesn't mean that I knew I only liked boys. It was the most love I had been given outside of my mother and sister, so of course I was going to like it."

"I'm sorry, Nico. I was being insensitive to your feelings again."

"It's not the first time," Nico replied, "and it certainly won't be the last."

Will breathed in. He knew in this relationship, he had to be the voice of reason. Nico had been through too much to think clearly himself sometimes. He would remain patient and help him through everything.

"Nico, I love you."

"Idiot," Nico responded, leaning over, leading Will into a passionate kiss.

After they broke apart, Nico fell back onto the larger of the two beanbags. "We've got a lot of other movies to watch," he said, pointing to the stack he made on the bed, signaling for Will to carry on with the next one.

"Might as well continue on with the Captain Americas, right?"

"I don't care. We're going to watch all of them anyway."

Will smiled. "I hope you're ready to lie there for like twenty-four hours."

"You underestimate my ability to lay prone for long periods of time."

Will chuckled, rolling off of his beanbag, and onto the same one as Nico. Will wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's waist despite his weak protests. They spent the rest of the afternoon cuddled together. Eventually, Will had fallen asleep, head resting on Nico's shoulders. It was Will's sleeping form that Nico loved to see the most. No worry evident on his face, completely calm. It was so peaceful, and it was moments like this that made Nico glad he was in this time now instead of his own. He continued watching the movie in silence, his fingers playing in Will's soft blond curls. Maybe his birthday wasn't as bad a day he thought it was.


End file.
